[ES86]

Hello! My mother is looking to move from the suburbs of NY to Southwest Florida. She is 55 years old but plans to continue working part-time in Florida. She does NOT want to live in a retirement community or neighborhood. Ideally, she would like to purchase a 2 unit housing complex- where she would be able to live in 1 unit and rent out the 2nd unit. Her budget is around $200k. She certainly wants to be within walking distance of the beach and in close proximity to shopping, grocery stores, and major hospitals. She cannot drive on highways so she would need to live someplace where she could get to these places taking local roads. She has visited Southeast Florida and really liked the Hollandale/Fort Lauderdale area - is there an "equivalent" city in SouthWEST Florida? She is considering the following places:

Fort Meyers
Sarasota
Tampa
Naples
Clearwater
St. Petersburg
Palm Harbor

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Again, she wants to make an investment in the housing unit and not lose money on it so a city that has a good stock of people looking to rent would be ideal. Thank you!

[unquiltom]

200K will not get her a duplex anywhere in Florida, especially somewhere close to water like the places you mentioned. That said, I've seen a lot of similarities between the Naples area and Hollandale, Ft. Lauderdale, although, I haven't spent a lot of time there. But I think if one likes Ft. Lauderdale, you would also like Naples.

[Tink444]

Have lived on both coasts. Maybe she should consider a little farther north on the east coast. Real Estate costs a lot less on the west coast of Florida. The problem on the southwest coast is that jobs are not bountiful.
It is getting better. Also the west coast of Florida is very conservative. Real Estate is pricey in Naples. Charlotte County is less expensive but it is getting pricier quickly. She might find a duplex in Port Charlotte. It will not be close to the beach.
Things to consider.

[JasonAnc]

Southwest Florida "equivalent" to Hollandale/Fort Lauderdale Area

Coming from a family who used to have a condo in Estero we frequently spent weekends at, and having recently done the same in Hallandale Beach over the past 3 years (parents of LTR owned a condo down there we went to at least a dozen times), I would never compare the suburban SWF area to the much denser and urbane SE FL.

Hallandale Beach has lots and lots of urban amenities nearby. There is the boardwalk on the beach, downtown Hollywood is very close, there are multiple casinos the old folks love. many areas have shopping plazas with groceries and daily needs within easy walking distance. Transit is pretty decent, with bus service connecting to regional rail. Aventura Mall is close and so on... SWF has nothing even remotely built up and urban like that. And especially not for $200k.